When one thinks of Antarctica, the word “desert” probably does not come immediately to mind. We think of deserts as hot, sandy, sun-drenched places. However, the technical definition is just a place that receives very little precipitation, less than 250 millimetres (10 inches) per year. So there are “hot deserts” and “cold deserts” and that means the vast majority of our southernmost continent is indeed a desert—the world’s largest. Overall, the continent is about 14 million square kilometres (5 million square miles)—most of it desert. That’s larger than all of Canada (10 million sq km/3.8 sq. m), but…